Items filtered by date: Tuesday, 14 February 2012

Argentina: Cementos Avellaneda has dedicated a new 2.5Mt/yr cement plant at Olavarria, where it has invested US$85m, with the aim of meeting growing demand in Argentina. Cement sales increased to 11.6Mt in 2011, an 11% rise compared to sales in 2010. Demand in 2003 was just 6.5Mt.

Saudi Arabia: Saudi Cement Company has announced that it will re-start operation of its 4000t/day Kiln No. 6 by the start of May 2012 at the latest. It will have completed a large-scale environmental overhaul and conversion of the kiln from gas to crude-oil by this date.

The company will also recommence operation of three older kilns over a similar timescale. These have a combined capacity of 1325t/day. The total additional available capacity available in May 2012 will be 5325t/day, helping to meet rising demand in the country.

Lithuania: Akmenes Cementas, Lithuania's only cement manufacturer, posted a revenue of Euro63.2m for the whole of 2011, a rise of 37% compared to the Euro46.4m it took in 2010. Cement sales increased by 19% to nearly 0.98Mt.

Lithuania accounted for 55% of the company's sales, with sales rising by 14% year-on-year to 0.54Mt. Sales in the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad rose by 25% to 0.18Mt, or 19% of total sales, while sales in Belarus fell by 25% to 71,000t. Its sales in EU countries surged by 67% to 185,000t.

Akmenes Cementas is in the process of implementing its biggest-ever production modernisation project, worth Euro101m, which involves shifting from wet to dry cement production.